The County of Devon
The County of Devon
Continuing our travels starting with the beautiful township of Clovelly
Burch Farm, Twitchen in the County of Devon
Good morning and welcome,
Did you know that in the 16th Century a gentleman by the name of George Cary turned Clovelly into a fishing village? Well neither did I…
He had a stone breakwater built out into the sea creating a harbour, and this is the only harbour in this part of North Devon.
Many fishing boats found refuge here and as a result George took the initiative and built fish cellars, warehouses and cottages that would later go on to connect the harbour with the upper part of the village. I absolutely love it when I hear about someone who has initiative, and what they did is still standing!!
In 1738 Clovelly was purchased by the Hamlyn family and to this day it is still owned by them. Another fact I had no knowledge of. The village we see today is primarily the work of Christine Hamlyn (1855-1936), she was responsible for beautifying the village, and what a wonderful job she did.
One other fact about Clovelly is that it was the childhood home of Charles Kingsley, author of The Water Babies, not only was that a wonderful book, but the words he wrote to his bride to be, show that he was also quite a romantic. “Now that you have been to Clovelly, you know what was the inspiration of my life before I loved you” Awwwhh!
Original cover, so different to my copy which I love.
You do have to pay to visit the town, the latest prices I have seen are £8.50 for adults and £4.95 for children between the ages of 4 and 16. But just be mindful that this goes to help pay for the upkeep of this beautiful place by the families in residence.
My holiday journal stated, “this place is so old”, well no wonder since it began in the 16th Century. The streets are paved in cobblestones, and the walk down to the water is steep!! This street is named “Up-along”, how quaint. Some of the doorways of the houses are quite low, so much so you would have to stoop to walk through. I saw a photo today of a descendant of the Hamlyn family, John Rous, now he would definitely have to stoop as he is quite tall.
As mentioned the walk down the hill is very steep and on the way down I overheard that a 92 year old had made it down to the bottom, although she did get a ride back, anyway I figured with being quite a bit younger there should be no way I can’t make it both ways!
Unfortunately when we arrived here my camera was playing up so have had to source a few photos from elsewhere.
It was a real treat visiting this town, but I bet now it would be so crowded as tourism is far more prolific than when we travelled.
We are now headed for Bishops Taunton and our accommodation “Downrew House”, after settling in we went out for dinner to the Chichester Arms hotel.
After a pleasant dinner and a restful night sleep at last we are heading for Twitchen to visit St Peter’s Church where the Tapp ancestors are buried and then to find “Burch Farm”.
Twitchen is a very small village with a church, schoolhouse a few houses and surrounding farmland and it is very hilly.
On finding the church we went in search of the gravestones, thankfully this was not a very big graveyard, and within a short period of time Les found the first graves so I proceeded to take photos and write down what the inscriptions were on the headstones, some of which were quite hard to read, all up there were 7, dates of deaths ranging from 1787 to 1916.
Whilst we were there was a gentleman who came walking through with his dog, and Les being Les started chatting with him, the chap had funny sayings of “Don’t you think meself” or “Personally meself”, anyway it was lovely to have such a long conversation with one of the locals.
When the walker departed Les and I went into the church to find the plaque which had been erected in memory of John Tapp, it read -
To the Glory of God - and in memory of John Tapp of Burch, Warden for more than 40 years and benefactor in the re-building of this Parish Church d. Oct 16 1883 and Mary Mortimore his wife d. June 8 1915 - this sanctuary has been re-furnished by their children June 1916.
The gentleman we spoke to at the church gave us some directions to the farm but on the way we also checked with a couple of other farmers which turned out to be a good idea. As we were driving up the driveway of the property the son of the owner was coming out and he advised us that his parents had gone out riding and should be back in about half an hour if we would like to wait. Of course, no way were we leaving.
We wandered around the gardens and took a few photos then eventually the parents returned, we only got to speak to Mr Carr as his wife was seeing to the horses. He was extremely kind and took us around the house, although saying all the time that the house was in a mess because his son was going to live with them for awhile, hmm, I don’t really think this was the case, but each to their own side of things.
The original house has been added to a couple of times, each style quite different. Mr and Mrs Carr have been living at Burch Farm for 14 years and it was starting to get beyond them, he was 82 at the time but I’m not sure about his wife, she may well have been a similar age. It was quite a privilege to be allowed such access as they didn’t know us at all, but I guess the Tapp name in the area is well known so that probably helped.
Comparing the first photo at the start of this post which was taken in recent years, and seeing the one I took (shown above), there have been a few changes garden wise, but otherwise it is still the same from the outside, but inside there have been quite a few modifications made as always happens when a new owner comes in.
One more week of posts in Devon and then we head for Cornwall, another beautiful part of England. Well to be truthful, when we left Devon we headed for Ireland, but that will have to wait for another time because Cornwall is “on the list”.
Until we meet again when You Come Away with Me.
Bye for now
Sally 🤗
Very unusual non-touristy location Sally. It still has that old world vibe to it. I looked up more pictures of the church and though parts of it were rebuilt later, it has the medieval look.
I really enjoy your travel journal, great shots, I love the cobblestone road!